A SortOf Family
by wotchermoony
Summary: Rachel Watson was six years old when the man that her Daddy loved - a man that had been dead for six years - came back. Sherlock Holmes is alive.  There will eventually be a John/Sherlock relationship. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This fic was inspired by a lovely fic called Paved With Love by KeelieThompson1, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I highly recommend you go and read it.**

**This is a kind of AU where Sherlock has been 'dead' for six years, not three. :)**

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><p>It had been six years since Rachel Watson had been born. She had been born from a fling between Sarah Sawyer and her Daddy, John Watson. Her mother hadn't really wanted anything to do with her, as she was to be married to another man. Daddy told her that he didn't mind this too much - he rather liked having Rachel to himself.<p>

Her Daddy often looked sad. He would catch himself in the middle of the sentence and gaze into space for a few minutes, his eyes getting bright - a telltale sign that he was tearing up. But then he would bring himself back to the present and act as if it had never happened. Rachel didn't like it when this happened - she wanted her Daddy to be happy, but no matter how much she grilled him on it, he would never tell her why he was upset.

It wasn't until one day - July 16th, her birthday, to be precise - that she found out. They had been clearing up the wrapping paper from her presents, and she had just started heading upstairs to get changed into her new birthday clothes for the meal out that Daddy had planned that there was a knock at the door.

"Daddy! Can I get the door?" She asked, and before the inevitable 'no' came, she said "It _is_ my birthday..."

"Fine, but make sure you don't open the door all of the way, okay?" Daddy answered reluctantly.

Rolling her eyes, Rachel reached up to the latch on the door, barely able to reach it, and pulled it open a crack. She looked up at the man stood outside. He had on a suit, light brown hair and was leaning on an umbrella. "Hello," he said, with a slightly arrogant smile. "I'm here to see your father."

"DADDY!" She called loudly, hardly noticing the fact that the man with the umbrella winced from the noise. Her Daddy walked out from the living room, looking over at the man at the door. His expression sunk, but he managed to look angry at the same time.

"Rachel, up to your room. Now," Daddy said, in a tone that said that she wasn't to talk back or ask why. She walked obediently to her bedroom, but even inside with her door shut, she could still hear the voices of the men downstairs.

"I haven't seen you since... it happened! How dare you just show up on my doorstep!" Came the slightly muffled voice of her Daddy. He was shouting. She'd only heard him properly shout once, and that was when someone had come up to him and called him 'stupid for believing it'. She wasn't sure what he had believed, but Daddy had got furious.

"I bring good news, Doctor Watson." Came another voice - the man with the umbrella this time. He sounded calm, but as if it was slightly forced. "I'm not too sure how to tell you this, so I shall just come out and say it. My brother is not dead."

"Wh- Not dead? Of course he is! I saw him fall. I saw him hit the ground." Daddy said, but his voice was quieter this time, and Rachel had to strain a bit to hear him.

"It's true," The other man said. "He's in the car outside. Wasn't too pleased with having to wait in there, to tell you the truth. I can bring him in if you like."

There was a long pause, and Rachel thought maybe the man had gone, and she started to get up when she heard Daddy say, "Okay."

She heard the front door open, but not close. There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and her door swung open slowly. Her Daddy stood there, his eyes bright like when he usually got upset, but there was something else in there - as if a light had been switched on inside of his head.

"I know this isn't a very nice way to spend your birthday, but I need you to stay up here until I say you can come downstairs, okay?" Daddy said, and Rachel noticed he was holding a tray that had the rest of her birthday cake, a plate of toast, and some orange juice. Rachel figured that this meant they probably weren't going out for birthday tea.

The look in Daddy's eyes meant that she wasn't very cross, though. She didn't think she'd ever seen him this excited, even if he was trying to hide it. He walked across the room and placed the tray on her desk, then turned and hugged her. "I love you, and I'm so sorry all of this had to happen on your birthday." With that, he walked out of the door and headed downstairs.

She heard the front door slam shut after a while, and a gasp. Everyone downstairs was quiet for a long time. When she heard voices again, Rachel tried to occupy herself with one of her new colouring books and not to listen, but it was too hard. She thought about going downstairs to tell them how loud they were being, and that she could hear everything they were saying, but decided against it in case she got in trouble for going out of her room.

"Are you honestly not going to say anything, John?" Came a new, deep voice. She figured it must have been the man that had been waiting in the car.

"Six years, Sherlock. _Six years_," Daddy said slowly. "It's been hell for me, you know that? If I hadn't had Rachel, I don't know where I'd be-"

"Rachel? Is this a long-term girlfriend? I'm surprised you managed to keep one so long, after your time of being a 'confirmed bachelor'," Said the man Rachel assumed was Sherlock. Her Daddy mumbled something incoherent and Sherlock said, "For crying out loud, speak up, John."

"I said she's not my girlfriend," Daddy said in a clear voice. "She's- She's my daughter." She heard a funny noise come from Sherlock, and then silence again.

Eventually the silence was broken by the man with the umbrella's voice. "Well, then... I shall get my driver to drop you off at Baker Street, Sherlock. John, I would like a word after, if that's alright."

There was silence, but Rachel assumed Daddy had nodded, because once the front door slammed shut, the man with the umbrella's voice came again. "Now, I know this is unexpected, but-"

"Unexpected? Mycroft, I thought he was dead! It's been six years!" Daddy shouted.

"Listen. He is my brother, and I would still like you to keep an eye on him. That's why I have booked a moving van to come at the end of the week. You're going to move back to Baker Street. I will pay you, if it's that much bother." The man she now figured was Mycroft said. She didn't like the sound of that - she liked the house she lived in. There was no way that Daddy would let them move, but then-

"You're not going to back down, are you?... Okay, fine. But only if he promises to keep the heads out of the fridge this time."

He came up to explain what was happening later on - they were moving on Saturday, to a place called 221B, Baker Street.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thank you to all of the alerts, favourites and reviews!**

**I'm not too sure about this chapter, something just feels off. If you see anything you don't like/think could be improved, be sure to let me know! :)**

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><p>They moved in on Saturday, the 19th of July. Sherlock had come round to their house a few times, but Rachel still hadn't got a good look at him. Whenever Daddy looked through the peephole and saw that it was Sherlock, Rachel was sent up to her room, and although she tried to peek through the glass of the living room door, all she could see was a tall figure in a long coat. Sometimes when Sherlock came round, he and Daddy talked nonstop. Other times, they would say nothing but "hello," and "goodbye". Sherlock always stayed for a long time.<p>

Rachel was excited and sad at the same time on the day of the move. Although she loved the house that she had lived in for her whole life, she was curious as to what Baker Street would look like. She had imagined a whole street full of, well, bakeries. She was very wrong. It had only one cafe, which she thought didn't look very nice, and the rest of the street was full of boring old houses.

221B - their house - was up one flight of stairs. Daddy said that a very nice lady called Mrs. Hudson lived in the bottom flat, and that yes, he was sure that if Rachel asked nicely, she would get one of the cakes she could smell was being baked.

The flat smelled funny, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why. Maybe it was because it was somewhere different than home - but this _was_ home now. She had to keep reminding herself that.

It was quite messy, but it looked sort of like a homely mess. The sort of mess in which you know where everything is. Rachel liked mess.

All of their things from the old house were already in the flat. The moving van that Mycroft had hired had been much too big. They only had one box of things each. Daddy had said that they didn't need to take many things, as 221B already had lots of things that they had.

"I'm going to take the moving boxes up to our room, okay? Stay here, and don't touch anything." Daddy said. As he headed up the second set of stairs, she walked over to a chair and sat in it. Her feet didn't reach the floor, so she swung her legs idly. With a start, she realised that there was a man lying on the sofa, staring at her.

He had curly black hair, sharp cheekbones, and pale eyes. He had his hands together, as if he was praying, and had brought them up to his mouth. He was staring at her.

"Are you Sherlock?" She asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Obviously." He answered abruptly.

"Why are you just led there?"

"Because I'm bored."

They had been arguing. That's all they seemed to do, and Rachel wasn't sure how they'd become friends. But Daddy had insisted that him and Sherlock would be friends again soon. But then another day passed, and another, and they still weren't speaking. Eventually, Rachel got bored of the silence.

"Why are you and Daddy not speaking?" She asked Sherlock, while Daddy was in the bathroom brushing his teeth.

His brow furrowed, and he answered with, "We're arguing." He didn't look away from the laptop he was typing on.

"I know _that_!" She exclaimed, frustrated. As if she hadn't got that from hearing all of the shouting! "What I meant was... why are you and Daddy _still _not speaking? It's been ages!" She had only had a few conversations with Sherlock since they had moved in with him, and most of them had been interrupted by Daddy muttering something about 'corrupting her mind'. She wasn't sure what that meant, but she didn't think Sherlock was doing it.

"Because your father refuses to admit that he was wrong." He muttered.

Rachel had decided she was going to do something about it, so that afternoon, on the bus with Daddy on the way back from school, she said to him, "You and Sherlock should start talking again."

Daddy sighed. "And why do you think that?" He asked her, raising his eyebrows.

"Because the silence is boring. Sherlock says you won't admit you're wrong, so just do that and you'll be friends again, right?" She asked innocently, looking up at Daddy.

"Of course he said that," He muttered. "It's not as easy as that, Rachel. And anyway, I'm not wrong, he is."

Rachel stayed silent for a long time, but eventually said, "Most of the time Sherlock isn't wrong. I don't think he would start being wrong now." She wasn't sure why Daddy got cross at that.

It was very late, and Daddy still wasn't in his bed. Rachel thought this was weird - it had to be nearly time for school soon, and Daddy still wasn't asleep! She rubbed her eyes and got out of bed.

She walked downstairs quietly. She couldn't hear any voices, not even the sound of the telly. Eventually, she reached the door to the living room. She pushed it open, and it creaked loudly

She walked through it and saw Daddy and Sherlock led on the sofa together, looking very startled. Their lips looked very red.

After they had got up, Daddy had sent Sherlock out of the room ("This is the sort of conversation that needs to be just us two."), sat Rachel down and taken a deep breath.

"Look, what you saw me and Sherlock doing-" He began, but Rachel interrupted.

"Does this mean you and Sherlock are boyfriends now? Because Amy Adams from Year Six said that she caught her sister and another boy doing that because they were girlfriend and boyfriend." She said.

"I, uh, guess you could say that..." He said, his face scrunched up as if in deep thought.

"The girl's right, you know. A simple connection to make, I suppose." Sherlock said, walking into the room. Daddy went pink and looked very pleased with himself, before he caught himself.

"I thought I told you not to eavesdrop?" Daddy asked.

"When have I ever listened to what you told me to do?" Sherlock replied. Daddy nodded his head, taking this as a valid answer.

"Can I go back to bed now?" Rachel asked impatiently. So Daddy and Sherlock had been kissing - so what? At least now she knew why Daddy hadn't been in bed. Daddy nodded, looking very dazed.

Rachel walked back up the stairs, and got into bed, and fell asleep.


End file.
